The present invention relates to a sonic direction locating system for locating the direction of the origin of a specified type of sonic impulse with respect to a reference body. As used herein, the term "sonic impulse" refers to a sonic (includes ultrasonic) wave of very short duration; and the term "sonic sensor" includes microphones for airborne sounds, hydrophones for water-borne sounds, and geophones for solids-borne sounds.
Many systems have been developed and are described in the literature for locating the direction of the origin of sonic impules with respect to a body. In general, the known systems utilize many sonic sensors located at relatively large distances from each other (e.g., from 30 to 100 meters), and measure the arrival times of the sonic impulse to the various sonic detectors for determining the direction of the origin of the sonic impulse. In addition to the large space requirements, the known sonic direction locating systems generally have a relatively high rate of false alarms in correctly identifying the sonic impulse desired to be located and distinguishing it from background noises.